New era begins at Presentation College

SPORTS

There seems to be a new vibe on the Presentation College campus in Aberdeen.

I can feel it, and others who work there have told me about it. The addition of a bunch of football players has changed things for the better.

You can feel their energy on campus and hear their laughter. Laughter is good for the soul.

Doing most of the laughing, smiling and having fun Saturday afternoon at Swisher Field in Aberdeen was Trinity Bible College. The Lions handed Presentation College a 39-13 loss in the Saints' first-ever game.

Mistakes were made and lessons were learned on both sides of the field. PC looked as if it were going to close the gap in the second half after falling behind 27-6.

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The Saints got an interception to prevent a TBC touchdown just before first halftime. Then PC used that momentum in the third quarter for its own touchdown that left the Saints trailing by a manageable 14 points.

However, Trinity Bible got the momentum back and kept it to get off to a 2-0 start. And you can believe that the TBC faithful is extremely excited about that 2-0 start.

Trinity Bible is coming off a 3-8 season, one of its best in years.

Before last year's successes, TBC had only four wins in the previous five seasons. In 2005, Shawn Fury published his book (Keeping the Faith: In the trenches with college football's worst team) about the TBC football program, faith and finding small victories among big defeats.

We have a reputation to defeat as well, TBC coach Dustin Morgan said in the preseason. But we are debunking that, practice-by-practice, game-by-game and season-by-season.

TBC seems well on the way to having one of its best seasons in its 27-year history.

Presentation College, meanwhile, has a full season of football ahead. The Saints will get a couple of weeks to regroup before they head to Roseville, Minn., at 1 p.m. Sept. 17 to play Northwestern College.

That will be another first for PC. It will be PC football's first Upper Midwest Athletic Conference game.

And if you are a PC fan, don't fret. There is plenty of time and successes ahead for your Saints.

And if you are TBC fan, enjoy the 2-0 start. They have not come around too often in the college town of Ellendale, and the Lions should be proud of their accomplishments.

John Papendick is the managing news-sports editor for the American News. Readers tell and email him with stuff plus he reads all the daily newspapers in South Dakota on a daily basis. Reach him at jpapendick@aberdeennews.com. Blog: aberdeensports.net/inthehuddle.